Politics

7, May 2020

Barrister Agbor Balla, UNIBU, Federalism and FECAFOOT: Going, going, gone ⁰

The contract of Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor alias Agbor Balla, Instructor at the English Law Department of the University of Buea, UB, has been terminated on grounds that he breached university guidelines when he set an exam question on the socio-political situation in Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions.

Decision No. 2020/0326/UB/DVC/TIC/AcA/AA to terminate the contract of Agbor Balla is dated Wednesday, May 6, 2020 and signed by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ngomo Horace Manga.

Members of a disciplinary panel set up through service note no. 2020/071/UB/VC/DVC/TIC/AcA/TTSD/AA on April 3, 2020 are said to have unanimously agreed that Agbor Balla’s contract be terminated at the end of a Disciplinary Hearing Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at the Board Room of the Central Administrative Block despite Agbor Nkongho’s “boycott”.

The rights activist is said to have breached professional obligations when he set an exam question on the Anglophone Crisis in a first semester level one course titled “Political and Constitutional History of Cameroon”. The question read: “The Anglophone crisis since 2016 was caused by lawyers’ and teachers’ strikes. Assess the validity of this statement. (40 marks).”

The Disciplinary Panel resolved that the question violates Article 40 and 42 (paragraph 1) of decree no. 93/027 of 19 January 1993, modified and completed by decree no. 2005/342 of 10 September 2005, to define provisions common to all university institutions.

Expected to enter appearance in defense, Agbor Balla rather sought the services of Sheriff-Bailiff Tapa Justin Lebrin to serve the Vice-Chancellor his “Appearance Under Protest”. The four-page document was received on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor by his private secretary early Wednesday morning. In the “protest”, Agbor Balla picked holes in the disciplinary hearing, positing that it fell short of due process.

Based on the outcome of the Disciplinary Panel, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ngomo Horace Manga decided to terminate with immediate effect the Contract of Mr. Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla recruited as Instructor in the Department of Law through decision No. 2015/0514/UB/AcA/TTSD/TSS of June 2, 2015.

“The Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Teaching, Professionalization and Development of Information and Communication Technologies, the Registrar, the Director of Academic Affairs, the Director Of Finance, the Dean of the Faculty of Laws and Political Science, each in their areas of competence, are charged with the implementation of this decision, which shall be registered and communicated wherever necessary,” said Professor Ngomo.

Agbor Balla took to Facebook and Twitter Wednesday night with the following words: “They celebrated when I was arrested; wished me death whilst I was in jail; prayed that I should never leave jail; jubilated when the minister wrote to the university; rejoiced when I was summoned but unfortunately for them they are not God. I have forgiven all of them.”

It would be recalled that the Minister of State for Higher Education and Chancellor of Academic Orders, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo had on April 20, 2020 instructed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buea ,Professor Horace Ngomo Manga to put a definite end to all on-campus activities of Agbor Balla which breach the “ethics and deontology” of the University. Sources at UB say the Minister of State’s letter followed complaints from parents sent to his office.

Cameroon-Info.Net recalls that when the crisis in the North West and South West regions started in October 2016 with the Lawyers’ and later Teachers’ strike, Agbor Balla was President of the Fako Lawyer’s Association (FAKLA) as well as President of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC.

When pressure came to bear on government, the CACSC was banned on January 17, 2017 and Agbor Balla arrested same day along with Dr. Fontem Neba who served as Secretary General of the Consortium.

Brought before the Yaoundé military court for promoting terrorism among other charges that carry the maximum sentence, Agbor Balla was freed when President Biya ordered the discontinuance of proceedings against him and others on August 30, 2017.

Human Rights Lawyer Agbor Balla’s trouble at the University of Buea may not be unconnected to his civil society activities and his recent indictment of government for the February 14, 2020 killings in Ngarbuh, pundits say.

Source: Cameroon-Info.Net

6, May 2020

Success Nkongho: the poison among Southern Cameroonians ⁰

The dust about Nkongho Success’ betrayal of the Southern Cameroonian cause seems to be settling, especially as the fight against the Coronavirus seems to have overshadowed the struggle for the independence of Southern Cameroons.

While Southern Cameroonians are observing a ceasefire to enable the international community battle an insidious and disruptive virus, Nkongho Success has been at work, betraying more Southern Cameroonians and hurting those he considers as his sworn enemy.

Today, he has sent Paul Ayah Abine, the illustrious judge and once-upon-a-time presidential candidate who helped him to grow politically, to the SED where he will face some tough questions about his political and financial activities.

Nkongho Success has been talking with the country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, and Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, both of whom are in support of a sinister plot to silence the retired judge forever.

Mr. Nkongho claims he has evidence that Mr. Ayah Abine had sinister a plan to buy arms and destabilize the country.

He claims the learned judge wanted to use his church to raise money for his 2018 presidential campaign, some of which would have been channeled into an arms purchase deal.

He alleges that Judge Ayah had asked him to charge his faithful in his fake church CFAF 5,000 each which could have made the learned judge an instant billionaire and a huge threat to the government.

Judge Ayah is not a stranger to SED and his sound knowledge of the law will be the largest tool in his tool box in his effort to deal with this massive mess Mr. Nkongho has created for him and his family.

Mr Nkongho, who now lives in Yaoundé, is now enjoying some form of protection and immunity and these will last for as long as he continues to betray many Southern Cameroonians.

His family has been set up in Yaoundé by the government. All of his brothers have left Mamfe and his cousins who sympathize with the Southern Cameroonian cause have completely disconnected from him.

Speaking over the phone to a friend in Mamfe, Mr. Nkongho said he would never regret his decision, although Amba fighters had seized all of their farms and allocated them to other people.

He has sworn to destroy Judge Ayah, claiming that it was Mr. Ayah who attacked him first.

More will be yours as Cameroon Concord News Group gathers more details.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

5, May 2020

Lord Justice Ayah Paul: Smelling his last days on earth ⁰

Lord Justice AYAH’S DYING DECLARATION

I, Ayah Paul Abine,

A retired Supreme Court judge

Former candidate at the 2011 Presidential Election

Former National President of People’s Action Party

Former National President of Popular Action Party

Do solemnly declare as follows:

1 That I was abducted by a six-man armed government’s killer squad from my residence in Yaounde on January 21, 2017. During my 223-day captivity in a solitary cell, I developed a cardiac condition that warrants my taking, at least, eight (8) drugs a day to sustain my life.

2 That the said government has blocked or procured the blocking of my bank accounts with BICEC, Buea, for upwards of two months now.

3 That, deprived of access to my accounts, my health has deteriorated steadily for the last four weeks running as I am unable to buy vitally necessary drugs to keep me alive.

4 That my scores of dependents at home and in the St Valentine Centre, (orphanage), risk dying as we live in the war zone where we cannot even fall back on a garden.

5 that the following THREE Anglophone personalities are responsible for my eventual death, and the eventual death of my dependent, and do have to account accordingly:

THE PRIME MINISTER, DR JOSEPH DION NGUTE

As the head of government that, from every indication, has plotted and does plot to kill me and, consequently, all my dependents; or has connived at such heinous crimes against humanity.

MR. PAUL ATANGA NJI

As the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council. It may be instructive to know that it was the National Security that had my accounts blocked for no apparent reason, and without a court order.

A CERTAIN Dr SUCCESS NKONGHO

Said to be a pastor, the government has used, and is using him to forge a make-believe case against me. The very man that, ADMITTEDLY, killed soldiers and dismembered them – cutting off their heads, at times.

The very man that, ADMITTEDLY, burnt down schools; and kidnapped school children for ransom.

The very man that, ADMITTEDLY, had burnt to death alive in their homes and in their sleep innocent Ambazonian civilians.

The very man that had, ADMITTEDLY, kidnapped civilians for ransom…

MAY IT SO BE!

As for me, I can die any time soon from cardiac arrest, prepared for me by those three Anglophone personalities in the Government of Cameroun.

MAY GOD’S WILL BE DONE IN MY LIFE!

LORD, I COMMEND TO THEE MY SOUL!

4, May 2020

Manyu Liberation Council! Stop the talking! Fund the boys! ⁰

Fellow Manyus,

We bring you revolutionary greetings from your G-Zero heroes. We hope and pray that you and your families are all safe during this time of a global pandemic.

Last Sunday the 26th of April 2020, we presented an innovative structure to regain the initiative in our county in order to refocus our efforts to protect our people from French Cameroun’s genocidal war in Ambazonia. The creation of a Manyu Liberation Council (MLC) to unite our people and raise funds for our self-defense forces has been greeted with immense compliments and appreciation.

Over the last few days after the presentation, we have conducted additional consultations and considered proposals from you to improve our proposed structure. We are pleased to announce that from your feedbacks, we have made constructive inputs into the MLC project.

The role of our self-defense heroes can’t be overstated in our quest for freedom and independence. As self-defense is a vital department of this new MLC structure, we have spent the last few days engaging with self-defense forces in G-Zero and many defense overseers in the diaspora to ascertain the challenges they face. This exercise has given us a broad understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead. We are pleased to announce that our self-defense forces have exercised restraint and committed to halt hostilities against each other.

We are pleased to announce that on Sunday the 10th of May 2020 at 7pm Amba Time, we are inviting you all to a Town Hall to launch the Manyu Liberation Council project. The zoom link for this meeting will be communicated on Saturday the 9th of May 2020.

Your self-defense forces are excited at this great opportunity. We are excited! The time for talking in Manyu is over; the time for funding your self-defense forces in Manyu is now.

God Bless Manyu, Long Live Ambazonia

MLC Project Team

4, May 2020

Race for the White House: Trump promises Covid-19 vaccine by end of the year ⁰

President Donald Trump relaunched his election campaign Sunday with a live television event inside the iconic Lincoln Memorial, promising an early coronavirus vaccine and urging Americans to put the pandemic behind them to embrace an “incredible” future.

With the two-hour long Fox News “town hall,” Trump sought to wrap himself in the mantle of America’s arguably greatest president — and to persuade a nation battered by death and mass unemployment to look ahead.

“We can’t stay closed as a country, we’re not going to have a country left,” he said on the show, where two moderators, as well as ordinary citizens via video, put questions to him in front of the monument.

“We’re going to have an incredible following year,” he said.

To a woman who called in expressing fear of financial ruin and eviction, Trump said her job would come back.

“You get a job where you make more money,” he said.

Saying Americans should start going back to beaches this summer and recommending that shuttered schools need to reopen in September, Trump forecast good news on the hunt for a vaccine.

“We are very confident that we’re going to have a vaccine… by the end of the year,” he said, admitting he was getting ahead of his own advisors with the prediction. “I’ll say what I think,” he said.

Saving his reelection

The businessman Republican is doing poorly in most polls ahead of the November presidential contest against Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who remains shuttered in his Delaware home.

Trump faces criticism for his bruising, divisive style during a time of national calamity. He is also accused by some of botching the early response to the COVID-19 virus.

Worse, the previously booming US economy, which was seen as a golden ticket to his second term, is now in dire straits due to the nationwide lockdown.

With officials saying the viral spread has begun to taper, Trump is itching to return to the campaign trail.

However he faces new criticism that he is trying to declare premature victory, even as the illness continues to kill thousands of Americans every week.

Having repeatedly minimized the death toll, claiming it will end at around 60,000, Trump conceded that now “I’m saying 80 or 90 and it goes up.”

His emphasis, however, was not on the dead, but on resurrecting his image as a can-do leader who can end the skyrocketing unemployment caused by the lockdown.

That audacious shift began Sunday at possibly the most hallowed monument in the country — the statue of Abraham Lincoln, who led the country through civil war, urged reconciliation, and was assassinated in his moment of triumph.

Trump, who calls himself a “wartime president” denied that the election will turn into a referendum on his handling of the crisis.

But he added: “I hope it does because we’ve done a great job.”

In the next few days, Trump will follow up by breaking months of self-quarantine with long-distance trips to the key electoral states of Arizona and Ohio.

It’s a play that will emphasise Trump’s massive visibility advantage over Biden and, the White House hopes, rewrite the public relations script after gaffes including the president’s suggestion that coronavirus patients ingest disinfectant.

Greater than Lincoln?

Lincoln gambled in 1861 that only war could preserve the United States by ending slavery and restoring the nation’s ideals of freedom. He won, becoming a national hero.

But Lincoln is remembered as much for reaching out to former foes — something Trump did not seek to emulate as he spoke at the foot of the iconic statue.

Previous presidents, he said, were “stupid” to allow reliance on foreign manufacturers for US medicines.

The Democrats, he said, are “radical,” claiming they would prefer to see people get sick than see him succeed.

Trump pronounced that he had “done more than any president in the history our our country in the first three years.”

His self-declared greatness is questioned by many Americans.

FiveThirtyEight’s latest tracking poll showing only 43.4 percent approving Trump’s performance and 50.7 percent disapproving.

Trump even got in an online tussle with former president George W. Bush earlier Sunday, after the fellow Republican posted a video filled with the kind of empathy and solidarity that many accuse the current White House occupant of failing to show.

Trump responded by complaining that Bush was “nowhere to be found” when he was battling off an impeachment attempt in Congress last year.

(AFP)

4, May 2020

The multi-national force established by Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger has not been able to defeat Boko Haram ⁰

For years, Nigeria has been caught in the web of terrorism. Regrettably, the nation’s military, which has won many accolades at the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and at the regional level, has not been able to restore peace especially to the North-East where the terror groups operate.

Book Haram launched a full-scale attacks on Nigeria following the killing/death of its commander, Mohammed Yusuf, in a controversial circumstance. The dreaded Boko Haram which was regarded as a ragtag army of youths has continued to give the Nigerian military as well as the military of some neighbouring nations a serious headache, killing scores of troops and carting away their weapons on some occasions.

Although the insurgents have also had many casualties, their ability to recruit more fighters, resilience, arms cache and capability to get intelligence reports, which they often deploy in attacking the soldiers, have been worrisome despite many claims that they have been technically defeated.

The terrorists became very emboldened before the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), came to power in 2015 to the extent that the United Nations Office in Abuja was bombed while the Police headquarters was also bombarded, among other places.

However, the devious attacks were not limited to Nigeria as the terror group also carried out attacks in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. These deadly attacks and the push by the insurgents to establish their government in these countries accounted for the reorganisation of the Multi-National Joint Task Force in 2015.

This was why the headquarters of the regional force was moved from Baga, Borno State, to N’Djamena, Chad Republic, and their mandate was to end the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin.

Despite the reorganisation, the terrorists have continued to carry out attacks especially on military bases just to show that their alleged ‘technical defeat’ as claimed by the Federal Government was a ruse.

In March, Boko Haram inflicted a heavy blow on the Nigerian military by killing about 47 troops in a deadly ambush while the troops were moving around Alagarno in Yobe State.

The insurgents also killed 92 Chadian troops when they carried out an attack on a base in Bohoma, Chad. The attack is still being regarded as the worst military loss in the history of Chad.

Infuriated by the heavy defeat, the Chadian President, Idriss Deby, vowed that Chadian troops would deal with the insurgents. A few days after and in a surprise move, he actualised the threat as his troops launched a full-scale attack on the stronghold of Boko Haram killing hundreds of them and taking control of their arms store.

However, after the onslaught, the president who is a retired military officer, was quoted by Aljazeera as saying that Chad would no longer be part of any regional force in the Lake Chad region and the Sahel.

He said, “Our troops have died for Lake Chad and the Sahel. From today, no Chadian soldier will take part in a military mission outside Chad. Chad is alone in shouldering all the burden of the war against Boko Haram.” But the Nigerian military downplayed the statement, saying Chad had not pulled out of the regional force.

Nonetheless, investigations by our correspondents revealed that rivalry, lack of commitment and underfunding of the regional force were some of the reasons the MNJTF had not been able to defeat the insurgents completely.

Military sources noted that some of these reasons were also responsible for the inability of the Nigerian armed forces to end the Boko Haram terrorism within the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa since 2009.

A top military source in Borno, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said chief among the reasons for the slowdown over the years was an unwritten rivalry and controversy over funding among the countries, with Nigeria and Chad in the forefront.

The source said, “When the MNJTF was in Baga, Borno State, between 2009 and 2015, Nigeria provided much of the funding and supplied the most troops with little or no contributions from the three other countries. Nigeria still does. But then, the Boko Haram struck Baga and ruined the MNJTF headquarters in one of the most devastating attacks of that year on our troops.

“There was suspicion that the attack on Baga came because of unspoken bitterness from the other countries. So, the headquarters was moved to Chad in 2015. Yet, it was agreed that a Nigerian officer would be the Force Commander, a Cameroonian as a Deputy Commander and a Chadian as the Chief of Staff. Again, the Commander position was not rotational and this is another problem.

“It is difficult, even if I become the commander, to get the allegiance of the Chadian troops, where the MNJTF is headquartered, to commit more to the MNJTF than to their nation. They will naturally owe allegiance first to their army chief and the President than to a Nigerian commander. Chad just feels they are not in charge and that in a way affects the military cooperation.”

Despite operating from Chad and being a regional force, the choice of who becomes the MNJTF commander has always been done almost solely by the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff (currently Lt Gen Tukur Buratai), whom military sources believe should not be making such decision without the input of other army chiefs in the joint military force.

In the latest appointment in November 2019, Buratai in a press release named Maj Gen Ibrahim Yusuf as the MNJTF commander, replacing Maj Gen Chikeze Ude, the hitherto head of the force.

“This kind of choice of the MNJTF leadership is very faulty, if you ask me. The four countries have Chiefs of Defence Staff and at worst, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff is supposed to make such appointment and seek approval from the other three countries’ heads of military to show they are in the decision making channel,” a captain in the Nigerian Army explained.

It was not surprising therefore when Chad, in the first week of April 2020, hinted that it might no longer be taking part in any regional force. Although the announcement looked unclear as it houses the MNJTF, the Chadian president lamented that the country’s troops had died in droves for Lake Chad and the Sahel and they might no longer be taking part in a military mission outside his country.

Analysts believe that the message was subtly targeted at Nigeria to show that Chad wanted some more leverage in the force, than for its troops to await orders from Nigerian commanders.

It was learnt that Niger Republic and Cameroon were not in contention for such prominence in the MNJTF with their troops not being able to stop the terrorists from coming into their respective territories, most times after escaping heat from Nigeria and Chad.

“The funding of the MNJTF has therefore been a major challenge, with most resources lopsided and coming from Nigeria and Chad, which again limits the penetration of the regional force into the two other countries,” a top military source in Abuja said.

On April 10, 2020, the operations of the MNJTF were reviewed at the Ministry of Defence building in Abuja, but only the Ministers of Defence from Nigeria and Chad, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (retd.), and Mahamat Salah, respectively were at that meeting where tactical decisions were taken.

The Chadian defence minister had come to Abuja to review the MNJTF. He came in company with the Chief of Staff to the Chadian President, the Chadian Ambassador to Nigeria and the Chadian Director of Military Cooperation.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram has managed to keep its fangs alive in the Lake Chad region, partly due to the emergence of its deadlier faction, the Islamic State West African Province, and the recruitment and indoctrination of thousands of youths across the four countries to fight in the sect under the guise of religious and ideological war.

On April 27, the MNJTF itself raised the alarm that it had obtained information regarding a plot by the insurgents to carry out an “aggressive recruitment in the coming weeks.” It said the forced recruitment was expected to target young and adult males. However, the sect’s backup plan was to kidnap unwilling targets.

The MNJTF Chief of Military Public Information, Col Timothy Antigha, therefore urged youths in the North-Eastern states of Nigeria, Lake Province of Chad, Diffa Region of Niger and Extreme North Region of Cameroon to be vigilant and shun all promises of opportunities for quick money and misguided teachings about jihad.

On the whole, military sources agree that the MNJTF needs to first win the confidence and trust of its four member countries and their armed forces before tangible successes can be recorded against the Boko Haram and its affiliates.

A former Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Bola Akinterinwa, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, identified poor funding, poor equipment and logistical problems as some of the factors incapacitating the MNJTF.

Akinterinwa said the MNJTF was established in the 1990s for economic reasons but its mandate was changed to security when it was reorganised.

He said, “You know the countries funding the MNJTF but you don’t know the financiers of the Boko Haram. I will like to remind you of what late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya said and what a former President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, also said and you will know why the task will be very difficult for any joint task force whether national or multinational.

“Gaddafi made it abundantly clear that Nigeria could not have peace unless the country was divided into Muslim North and Christian South. Now the Boko Haram wants to establish an Islamic State particularly in the North.

“In this case, the powerful Muslim states appear to be funding them, aiding and abetting them. Nobody is talking about which countries are involved but accusing finger is pointing at Iran for supporting the Shiite; accusing fingers are pointing at Saudi Arabia and other countries. But the issue is that Boko Haram cannot have the kind of sophisticated weapons they are using if they are not being supplied from outside the country.

“In this case, when you have an opposition like Boko Haram that is heavily funded and equipped fighting against the MNJTF that is poorly equipped, how can they succeed?

“Also, some Nigerians went to protest at the French Embassy in Abuja accusing France of aiding and abetting Boko Haram. Jerry Rawling said the solution to Nigeria problems was to kick out all new-colonialist leaders in Nigeria. When you look at this also, you will see that it is very difficult for the joint task force because there may be colonial support for Boko Haram as well. This is a fundamental issue.

“Multi-national joint task force means the troops there are from different countries with different cultures. They do not use the same type of weapons and their military training and doctrines are not the same. Yet they are brought together under one commander who is expected to harmonise their activities. In terms of signal and strategies, they may not be the same. There is logistical problem and above all who is the leader? “

A former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, said in February at the first public lecture in honour of the late founder of Oodu’a Peoples Congress, Dr Fredrick Fasehun, that Nigeria had not been able to defeat Boko Haram because the terror group was getting support from outside. He, however, did not reveal where the external support for the jihadists was coming from.

But, a fellow of the International Institute of Professional Security, Mr Jackson Ojo, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said despite the fact that the terror group’s activities affected Nigeria more than the other three nations in the region, Nigeria had been lackadaisical in its approach to the force.

Ojo said, “There is a lot of unserious mess on the side of Nigeria despite the fact the counrty can be regarded as the epicentre of Boko Haram activities. Apart from this, I believe there are many saboteurs in Nigeria and even in the military. Boko Haram has a lot of sympathisers even among those in government. Some are sympathetic to the group based on ethnic, religious or just emotional sympathy.

“Boko Haram fighters do not fly to their bases, they come through our land borders with their supplies and security agents are supposed to be there. Nigeria has not queried that. These are some of the signs that we are not very serious about it. Our Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, just relocated to the North-East after the Chadian troops led by their President had routed the Boko Haram in an offensive battle.”

Proffering solution to the challenges, Akinterinwa said the MNJTF should re-strategise to end the insurgency. He explained that the troops of all the countries in the regional force should fix a particular day and a particular time of the day and encircle the whole area where “the Boko Haram fighters are and advance.”

He said with this, they would be able to neutralise the insurgents and there would be no need for the Joint Task Force to continue to play preventive role.

Culled from PUNCH

3, May 2020

Of Dr Fontem, PLO Lumumba and the Ambazonia Town Hall ⁰

FELLOW AMBAZONIANS,

I was in a Town Hall Meeting with Prof. Lumumba and more than 200 Ambazonians today, in which Prof gave a lot of good questions and answers for the revolution and Dr. Fontem presented the goals of SCUF, the Southern Cameroons United Front and another one presented the proceedings for the establishment of an Ambazonian National Bank. These are all very good developments into the right direction: more unity among us, more funds and power for the homeland defense & relief, and more chances to win allies or points on global political stage. I hope the moderators of the town hall meeting can publish Prof’s questions and answers and the modalities for SCUF and ANB for everybody soon! Yet let me add something I have on my heart concerning more unity among ourselves and more steady funds for our defense on GZ:

We need to ensure that it is a bottom-up-revolution and not a top-down-revolution, because top-down is easily infiltratable by the enemy. Top-down would mean that some “important” people would, like Paul Biya, just appoint people other people into power positions and that’s it. No, we have to give the people and commanders on GZ the power to vote other people into power and representation positions! That is bottom-up and the blossom of real democracy and freedom!

So, funding and uniting our defense groups is far more important than governing, especially not governing in the wrong way, like appointing people according to tribal or political party affiliation. We all need and want the strongest Ambazonian Forces possible and for that the politicking and personal cult of party leaders has to stop and the humble serving and funding for the homeland has to start. That means that the commanders and LGA-leaders from GZ shall hold Zoom Meetings among themselves in which they vote who the board members of the SCUF and ANB shall be. Also, all existing groups and IGs shall swear a public oath to the common Ambazonian rules and that their foot soldiers have to swear an oath to never attack any other Amba soldier from any group but focus on fighting the occupier altogether. What we really need most is the subordination of all leaders and activists under a common Ambazonian agreement, which says that the people and commanders on GZ have the charge over power and funds, and that political diaspora parties, which keep fighting other Amba groups shall be expelled from the funding and decision-making.

Prof. Lumumba said that we have to bury all factionalism and start speaking in one voice before the EU, AU, UN and ECOWAS, and as long as we don’t have this one voice we shan’t go to the Swiss table. I agree, although I recently recommended going to the Swiss table, but I have to confess that Prof. Lumumba is more right than me. I just wanted to pronounce that we should not run away from the task and walk proud and not fearless. And I think, the way to create this one-voice-representation goes through the united funding process for all commanders on ground zero and letting them vote who our leaders are and whom they shall vote as the supreme leader who tells the EU, AU, UN, US, ECOWAS and so on Ambazonia’s nonnegotiable position.

Of course, the more united we are, the more our enemy will try to corrupt our leadership. That’s why it is so important that we give the power to the people and the commanders, because they know best who can be trusted to lead because he/she is unbribable.

LONG LIVE AMBAZONIA!

By Christoph Messner

2, May 2020

Southern Cameroons War: Does shame have a place in the UN hierarchy? ⁰

As more and more civilians have been killed by the Cameroon government of Paul Biya, absentee president for 37 years, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been silent. He had made a deal with Biya’s UN Ambassador Tommo Monthe as chair of the UN Budget Committee for administrative favors in exchange for silence on the slaughter or “subduing” of the Anglophone minority.

Now on May 1 amid the Coronavirus pandemic, the US State Department as part of a larger statement bragged of “Cameroon: Nearly $8 million for health and humanitarian assistance will help provide infection-control in key health facilities, strengthen laboratories and surveillance, prepare communities, and bolster local messaging. This includes $6.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance from USAID, in addition to nearly $1.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and their host communities. This assistance builds upon more than $960 million in total U.S. investment in the country over the past 20 years, $390 million of which was for health.”

But where did all this money go? Correspondingly, the World Health Organization recently gave Biya’s government 14 luxury vehicles to Biya’s cronies and this was followed by a UN endorsement of Biya’s genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons “we acknowledge the commitment of the President of Cameroon to resolve the conflict in the North‑West and South‑West regions through peaceful means.”

In the UN’s call to release Southern Cameroons political prisoners, Guterres and his Nigerian Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed have ignored or been complicity in imprisoning: “Most of the Anglophones who are currently in detention were sentenced on terrorism charges, among which is President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Julius, and Nine others who were sentenced to life imprisonment. Other inmates have not been convicted yet, and about 75 percent are currently held in pre-trial detention. These people could not be released under Article 8 of the constitution because that falls under the prerogative of the judiciary, whereas those to be freed under the COVID-19 response fall under a presidential decree. The Cameroonian judiciary can release Anglophone prisoners using ‘nolle prosequi’ meaning ‘will no longer prosecute.'”

Now after Guterres ghoulishly took credit for a voluntary ceasefire declared by one opposition group in the Southern Cameroon without making any comment about Paul Biya’s army ceasing fire, the absurdity has become clear. A list of nation states tipping their hat to a ceasefire does NOT include the Cameroon of Paul Biya.

With support from the UN, Biya tried to jam through a vote even amid the Coronavirus crisis. Cameroon is the genocide of Guterres. We’ll have more on this. Guterres has been denouncing some few attacks in Cameroon NOT by Paul Biya’s forces, in Bamenda on Women’s Day.

Meanwhile Guterres and Dujarric have had no comment on, and have refused to answer on, Biya’s expulsion and now public trashing of their own UN OCHA officials in Bamenda, Andrew Jack Pendleton. Biya’s minister Atanga Nji has publicly denounced this UN official for his mild comments on the government’s slaughter of civilians at Ngarbuh. But Guterres has said nothing. The most basic thing a UN Secretary General is expected to do is speak for UN officials being chased out. But no – Guterres is too corrupt.

On February we reported on the killing of more than two dozen civilians including children in Ngarbuh in Southern Cameroons. Since then Guterres, Dujarric and Melissa Fleming have refused to answer daily questions on what has become their genocide in Cameroon.

Now there’s widely circulated video of a toddler whose mother was killed in Babanki (Kedjom Ketinguh) in Mezam, in the North West region of Cameroon. Soldiers are responsible, and 10 other civilians have been killed. One of the witnesses who exposed the Biya government’s mass killing at Ngarbuh, Mallam Danjuma has been killed and dumped in Bui by government forces in Kikaikelaki. And from the UN of Guterres? Nothing. This is Guterres’ genocide.

Reported by Inner City Press

1, May 2020

US: Biden denies Tara Reade sex assault allegation, saying it ‘never happened’ ⁰

US presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday emphatically denied sexually assaulting a former staffer, saying the incident she claims occurred 27 years ago “never happened.”

“They aren’t true. This never happened,” Biden said in a statement regarding the accusations made by Tara Reade, a former staffer in his US Senate office.

Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, broke a month of silence on the accusations with his statement.

The 77-year-old said Reade’s then-supervisor and former senior staffers in his office “have said, unequivocally, that she never came to them and complained or raised issues.”

Read, now 56, said on a podcast in March that the former senator and vice president put his hands “down my skirt” and violated her.

She has since recounted her story to other media outlets, and filed an incident report with the Washington police in early April — seen by AFP — in which she did not name Biden.

Other women have accused Biden of touching them inappropriately in the past, and Reade’s initial claims were similar — and less severe than her most recent allegations

Biden also went on a morning news show to proclaim his innocence.

“It is not true. I’m saying unequivocally it never happened, and it didn’t,” Biden told MSNBC.

“I don’t know why after 27 years all of this gets raised,” Biden added. “But I’m not going to question her motive. I’m not going to attack her.”

But he stressed that “I have a right to say, look at the facts. Check it out.”

Reade has not produced a copy of the complaint that she allegedly filed in 1993 after the incident, and Biden said he has asked officials to search the National Archives, where he says any such document would now reside.

He also said his papers, held at the University of Delaware, “do not contain personnel files.”

Biden, who has pledged to pick a woman to be his vice president, has stressed he has worked his entire political career to improve conditions for women, including authoring the Violence Against Women Act.

“Women are to be believed, given the benefit of the doubt, if they come forward and say something happened to them,” he told MSNBC.

“Then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts.” “The truth matters,” he said. “These claims are not true.”

(AFP)

1, May 2020

Francophone Politics: Biya regime refuses Kamto’s COVID-19 donation ⁰

French Cameroun Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie refused to receive on Thursday, April 30, 2020 a donation to combat the deadly coronavirus from opposition leader Prof Maurice Kamto.

“This is typical of Francophone politics. The opposite would have come as a surprise because the French Cameroun government, through its Minister of Territorial Administration, had denounced Kamto and his shallow cabinet for carrying out a fund-raising operation for the fight against coronavirus, our health correspondent in Yaoundé said

The MRC leader reportedly announced the donation on Thursday morning via a press statement and stated that the donations included medical and non-medical equipment.

Cameroon Concord News understands the Kamto coronavirus donation consisted of 10,000 masks, 6,800 surgical masks and 950 Covid-19 screening tests kits. The French Cameroun opposition leader rallied ordinary French Cameroun citizens who made the contribution to help the drowning Biya regime in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde